Gregory IsaacsMr Isaacs

Produced by Ossie Hibbert, this 1977 album was mostly recorded in one session at Channel One; this reissue adds 'Mr Brown' (in extended form) from the same session, 'Conversation' and the monumental 12' mix of the Cool Ruler's 1977 hit 'Mr Know It All', plus its b-side mix 'War Of The Stars'. The Dillinger deejay version of 'Slavemaster' is also included. The whole set - mostly roots material - features Gregory Isaacs at the height of his considerable powers and illustrates perfectly why - along with Big Youth, Dennis Brown and Johnnie Clarke - Isaacs ruled the Jamaican dancehall of the 1970s.

Reggae Reissue Album Of The Month Originally released here on Dennis Brown's DEB label in '77, "Mr Isaacs" has subsequently been available on various weird, woefully packaged Jamaican / European CDs. Predating his honey-tonsilled loverman phase by a couple of years, this was Gregory's first attempt at recording a whole album in one go. Here is a militant rootsman, firng off broadsides against social injustice on songs like Set The Captives Free and Slavemaster, the classic tune he delivered in the Rockers movie. In this context, covers of Smokey Robinson's Get Ready and even Story Book Children (yes, the Roger Whittaker one) sound like natural anthems of ghetto suffering, Isaacs' voice quavering with the anguish he'd later use to evoke his lady troubles. With five bonus tracks including Dillinger's DJ cut of "Slavemaster" and an extended Mr Brown, it's essential stuff. AP, Mojo (UK) April 2001